For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 21, 2013

You’re such a bad influence, Gordon.

You know this old if you can get games (plural), for a buck!

On my 16th birthday, I met a REALLY cute boy at school, who came into the office to ask if he could put up fliers for a new video game arcade (I worked in the office one period a day). He asked me if he could take me to the opening. When I asked my parents, my father (who usually left things like that to my mother) spoke up with a firm “NO”. The arcade was in a “really bad part of town” and (of course) he didn’t know the guy. Naturally, I was upset (yeah, I actually said, “I’m 16! Stop treating me like a child!”) but very soon after I had reason to be thankful, as the guy was M-A-J-O-R trouble, as was the place!

I like the new pictures they are great

Parents usually have good reasons for what they say. Sometimes they don’t make sense, but it’s better to not wait for trouble to happen for them to make sense.

And to think what Gordon turned into.

And my paper today has John searching around at midnight for the schools hamster that got loose in the house. Why isn’t it the same strip as Gocomics?

In my day, if your mom didn’t want you to go in there, then you definitely would check it out.

Video games!With prices so low they are INSAAAAANNNNNNNE!

Got some people here from the tri-state – NY, NJ, Conn area, yes?=Too bad that Crazy Eddie went out of business. Used to love those TV commercials he had.

peer pressure

The pictures at the top make them look demented!!!

I lived in a very small town & everyone knew everyone. If I or my two siblings did something our folks knew about it before we got home. School bus driver would call telling them I didn’t get on the bus to go back home from an away game & got in a car with some boys. He knew the boys & my parents did too. Being a young girl in the 60’s things were a lot different then than they are now. PLUS my folks knew they could trust me & the boys that were brothers & went to our church.

Some of you guys are responding as if the dollar would buy a video game. In those days, the dollar buys only a few tries at playing it in an arcade. Home systems were rare and expensive.

-———————————How could I become a Pinball Wizard if I didn’t get to go to Crazy Eddy’s???

Coffee-Turtle: Frontier town was Lynn’s quote. I thought Cromir was a suburb of North Lake, ON. North of the population belt, but hardly frontier.

Kids didn’t listen to their parents any better then than they do today. Michael and Gordon needed to be in church.

Some one is gonna get it!

We had the Starbase Zero video arcade when I was a little boy, which the parents hated just because they thought it encouraged truancy. Well, there was one dad who was cool with it, my dad, because he worked there one summer! :)

Not to mention Dragon’s Lair, Space Ace, Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong. Fortunately Wreck-it Ralph is helping expose today’s kids to why it was a crucial part of our youth.